The present invention concerns chairs with footrests, and more particularly concerns a chair having a vertically adjustable seat and having a footrest.
Chairs are often provided with footrests to comfortably support the feet of seated users, especially in chairs having rotatable seats positioned too high for a seated user to comfortably rest their feet on a floor. Such chairs are commonly used in bars, at kitchen counters, and at raised countertops where a seated person conducts business with a standing person. Seated users using these chairs like the footrest to be at a selected distance from the seat, so that their feet are comfortably supported and so that they can push off of the footrests to rotate the seat. Unfortunately, when a seat is vertically adjusted, the distance from the seat to the footrest changes. Thus, the footrest must also be made adjustable. However, making both the seat and the footrest adjustable can be very expensive, and further many customers do not want to have to separately adjust a footrest after a seat is adjusted. Another problem occurs when gas springs are used to assist in vertical adjustment of a chair seat, since the presence of the gas spring affects the structure of the hub and a vertical portion of the chair base. Specifically, the gas spring takes up space and makes it very difficult to support the footrest for vertical movement without creating a massive structure that is aesthetically unacceptable and also costly to manufacture. Notably, considerable torsional pressure can be applied to the footrest by a seated user when the seated user pushes off of the footrest due to the distance from the footrest to the hub. As a result, the footrest and chair base must be strongly and durably built, so that it can withstand considerable stress without unacceptably wearing and/or deforming. However, the footrest and its supporting structure must also not be too heavy, or the chair becomes expensive, difficult to move, and unacceptable to users. Also, the problem of a separate second adjustment of the footrest after the seat is adjusted must preferably be resolved.
Accordingly, a chair having a footrest solving the aforementioned problems and having the aforementioned advantages is desired.